Swiss Federal Councilor for Foreign Affairs H.E. Mr. Ignazio Cassis is paying an official visit to Mongolia on 4-6 April 2018 upon the invitation extended by the Foreign Minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar.

As the very first visit from the Swiss Confederation at the level of the Foreign Minister it is expected to give an important impetus to strengthening the friendly relations and mutual trust between Mongolia and Switzerland as well as enhancing trade and economic cooperation and expanding cultural and humanitarian ties.

During the visit, Foreign Ministers held extended talks and exchanged views on deepening political, trade and economic partnership, attracting more investment from Switzerland to Mongolia and intensifying cooperation in the field of food, agriculture, road and transportation, tourism, education, science and technology. The two sides also signed a number of agreements on cooperation.

Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis will pay a courtesy call on President H.E. Khaltmaa Battulga, meet and exchange views on bilateral cooperation with Finance Minister Chimed Khurelbaatar and members of the Mongolia-Switzerland Parliamentary friendship group at the State Great Hural.

The Swiss development assistance, an important integral part of the cooperation, started in 2001 to help the herders hit hard by the dzud disaster. Eventually it was expanded to the development assistance programme in 2004. Projects and programmes worth a total of CHF100 million were implemented by the year 2016.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation has successfully implemented various projects in agriculture, food security, vocational education and skills training, good governance, civil participation that has contributed significantly to Mongolia’s sustainable socio-economic development, diversification of economy, improvement of livelihood of people and strengthening of democracy. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation assistance will be continued from 2018-2021.